The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1887-08-24

year. Meu WHO steal whenever they
get a chance always have some other
occupation, and it is fact that the
legitimate one is more profitable than
the illegitimate one in nine cases out
of ten" Thus began my informant,
whose name you may look for little
further on.
"But in this city there is vast army
Of professional criminals" l said,
''men who are classified and whose
industries have special forms, imply
ing cunning and originality"
"My dear sir, you have been reading
the newspapers or talking to detec-
tives. There isn't dozen. If really
clever men-if men with modicum of
brains that belong to clever people
were to devote their talents to roguery
society couldn't exist. The methods
employed by thieves, for example, to
attain their ends look very cunning
and we'll planned to one to whom they
are first revealed. But take any one
OF them and examine it, and you will
see how tlimsy it is. A sneak thief
wants to get into the till of q corner
grocery. His accomplice comes with
Il tape line and begins to measure the
sidewalk in front of the door, or to
measure the wall, or comes in wagon
and begins to throw out lot of boxes.
The grocer steps out to inquire; is held
IN 10
OF the measure or pass back the boxes;
the sneak is in and away, and the trick
is oil. A saloonAk keeper is known to
keep pocket-book stuffed with money
in the inner pocket of his vest The
pick-pocket knows it is difficult place
to touch. Two accomplices come in
when he is alone, both of them laugh
ing heartily with a tape measure.
We'll, that was n dead loss for me-
says one. Set EN- up They laugh,
ask the saloon-keeper to drink, and
explain that they were betting
on the neighbour The saloons
keeper becomes interested; the
more so as rounds are being
called, and then the loser wants to get
even. A bottle of wine is staked and
the victim asked to measure, the new
bet being on his girth. Objection is
taken to the vest; off it comes, and the
sneak thief-a third party-soon has
the leather
Now, that's arlful, certainly" said
l.
':No such thing; it is most trans
parent and simple. 1t couldn't sue
coed were in not that the victim is a
fool. But these are exceptional cases
of such good planning as crooks can
do. But, after all, suppose man of
brains-real brains, such as You know
plenty of-were to devote himself to
the planning of ways to get other
peoples money without an equiva-
lent and went at il with the energy
that men give to the practice of their
profession or to the pursuits of COM
MERGE, where would such schemes as
this be? Nowhere. You hear of a great
burglary. The newspapers which re-
port it dwell upon the fact that it has
been carefully planned and that the
house had been plotted, for diagram
which the rascals had left in their
flight was found. What's to hinder
any more from learning every room
and every door in New York city?
There's the builders plans, the insur-
ance companies plots and the build
ing departments open files. A little
watching and good deal of
guessing makes up the rest of the
burglars knowledge. OF course, his
tools are of the finest workmanship.
Rats! The chances are ten to one that
they consist of a bar of iron, which,
boing carried by burglar, is called a
jimmy; a dark lantern. copper
hammer, a chisel and a flask of pow
der and a handkerchief with holes in
it for mask
"But there are cases where men
have gone further than make a few
hasty preparations; have hired adioin-
ing stores and tunneled and burrowed
into banks and vaults with infinite pa
thence and labor"
bah! How many? You say ten
and 1 say one. Whatever you say
will allow ten per cent. But can you
recall any,"
"Well, the Covington Ky.) bank"
That's one. You can't 60 on. But
there have been probably twenty rob-
berries committed in that way in the
last thirty years, and none of them
amounted to very much in the way of |
returns outside of two or three. You
make up your mind to the fact that |
the returns of robberies are vastly ex-
aggerated. That's not accounted for
by the fact that the thief has to dis
pose of his swag at discount amount
ing to q sacrifice. It's because the |
man robbed tells lies. If you want to
make liar of man rob and
then pump him on values. I remem-
Der man who yielded me SAT. What
do you think, he 'squealed' for 81. 700,
and I got the reputation of being
great crook on the strength of that
mans lies. One day 1 was taken in on
suspicion in Buffalo. My record
was known, and when the chief of
police ladled out his mess of lies to the
reporters my little trick of SAT became
$4,000. Finally it got to $4,000,
where it sticks, and when l was SEN
fenced in Brooklyn the.detective named
my nffense at that fimure to show whnt